Long Time No See: Enduring Behavioral and Neuronal Changes in Perceptual Learning of Motion Trajectories 3 Years After Training

Cereb Cortex. 2018 Apr 1;28(4):1260-1271. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhx039.

Abstract

Here, we report on the long-term stability of changes in behavior and brain activity following perceptual learning of conjunctions of simple motion features. Participants were trained for 3 weeks on a visual search task involving the detection of a dot moving in a "v"-shaped target trajectory among inverted "v"-shaped distractor trajectories. The first and last training sessions were carried out during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Learning stability was again examined behaviorally and using fMRI 3 years after the end of training. Results show that acquired behavioral improvements were remarkably stable over time and that these changes were specific to trained target and distractor trajectories. A similar pattern was observed on the neuronal level, when the representation of target and distractor stimuli was examined in early retinotopic visual cortex (V1-V3): training enhanced activity for the target relative to the surrounding distractors in the search array and this enhancement persisted after 3 years. However, exchanging target and distractor trajectories abolished both neuronal and behavioral effects, suggesting that training-induced changes in stimulus representation are specific to trained stimulus identities.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attention / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping*
  • Eye Movements
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Learning / physiology*
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Motion*
  • Oxygen / blood
  • Visual Cortex / diagnostic imaging
  • Visual Cortex / physiology*
  • Visual Pathways / diagnostic imaging
  • Visual Perception / physiology*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Oxygen